Simple Things
by kipler
Summary: By Muggle standards, Petunia Evans was quite possibly the luckiest girl in the world, but she wasn't happy. Not since a year ago. She didn't want much. Just the simple things, but the simple things she could never have.


**AN: Hey guys, it's me, Lulu. Some of you might have read my other story, Hermione's Story, and if you have, here is the next story I promised. If you haven't read it, please enjoy this story anyway. It's a short one-shot about Petunia being jealous of Lily. It was inspired by the story Part of Your World by stealingETERNITY, which is one of my favorite fanfics ever. You should read it if you haven't, you can find it in my favorites. I've written alot of this type of story, so you can expect more stories similar to this in the future. Anyway, please enjoy, and leave a review! I love reading them! **

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><p>Simple things<p>

By muggle standards, Petunia Evans was quite possibly the luckiest girl in the world. She was pretty(ish), popular, and had everything a young girl could want. Her closet was full of the latest fashions and beautiful dresses, she was currently going out with the most sought after boy in school, (David O'Conner) and she had so many friends it was hard to find time for all of them.

But Petunia Evans wasn't happy. Not since a year ago. She could remember that last happy year. She had been twelve years old, and queen of the school. Friends, admirers, and fashion had been her life. And it would have been completely perfect, if it weren't for the fact that she was related to her completed loser of a sister, Lily Evans.

Lily had started out shy, and by the time she was outgoing enough to make any friends, all the groups had already been formed, leaving her as the perfect target for any playground bully. Except for the fact that weird things always happened to those who were brave enough to bully her in the first place. Some mysteriously threw up, others erupted in boils, and once, Peter Pinchette's pants had ripped clean off, as if an invisible hand had pulled them. Lily had been labeled school freak, and people learned to make fun of her from a distance, leaving her completely alone.

She tried to pretend that they weren't related, and luckily her friends just ignored the "lesser" Evans, but the truth was, they got on quite well at home. Lily was really quite intelligent, and outgoing, and really fun to be around. Occasionally, Petunia would even risk going out to the park together; desperately hoping no one she knew would see her. It was there that Lily demonstrated some other –interesting—talents. Petunia always thought it was just a coincidence, and would go back to being her lucky, happy self.

But then the summer came. Petunia was thirteen; Lily was eleven, the age, apparently, when young wizards and witches around the country got their acceptance letters to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily, of course, was not from a wizard family so they received a letter, claiming to be from the headmaster of one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country, (they only accepted 20 people a year from the whole country who didn't have family connections) and asking if he could make an appointment to meet them in their home, because they wanted Lily to be one of their students.

Petunia, for the first time ever, was jealous of Lily. Petunia was smart by most standards, (getting strait B's and the occasional A) but she always knew Lily was smarter. No one at school ever noticed of course, but now, Lily being requested at the most prestigious school in the country! Petunia was the kind of person that needed to make other people jealous to feel like she was lucky, and how she wished she could say that she was getting accepted to the place Lily was going to. She could just imagine her friends plastic smiles as she told them discreetly, that she was so much smarter than them, and then worried out-loud about a long distance relationship with David.

But when the headmaster came, (his name was Albus Dumbledore) he told them that the school they were hearing about was nothing like they had expected. Imagine the Evans's surprise when they learned that Hogwarts was not a normal school, but a school of magic! Dumbledore had told them all about a wonderful place where anything was possible, and just like that, Mr. and Mrs. Evans agreed to let Lily go.

They later went shopping in a magical (literally) place called Diagon Alley, and Lily was allowed to buy all sorts of amazing magical items and more, just because she was going to that school. Petunia, who was not used to being left out, was quite angry, and fumed for most of the day.

But then, when they got home that night, and she watched her younger sister lovingly unload all her new possessions, Petunias anger turned to sadness. Why did her sister get to go to have magic powers and go to a magic school but she didn't?

So, always the go getter, she wrote a letter to the headmaster, asking if she, too, could be accepted. She had hoped with all her might, but she was disappointed. The letter Dumbledore sent back said very kindly, that he couldn't accept her, because she had no magic in her blood. Petunia had been furious! How dare he turn her down? Her jealousy and sadness turned quickly to anger, which she directed at the whole wizarding world.

She had gone back to school and tried to live her life like she did before, but she found it hard. How could she be content living her pretend fairytale while Lily had the real thing? So she had done the only thing a jealous pre-teen could do. She convinced herself that Lily was a freak at a freak school, who was separated from the normal population because she was dangerous.

But now, that year was over, and for the first time in a long time, Petunia was sitting on her bed, and letting the jealously get her, and as a result, yet another tear ran down her face. She had so carefully built up the walls in her mind last year, but now, Lily had come for the extended six week torture session they called summer, and they had all come tumbling down.

Now, Lily was out in town, with her new best friend from her school. Apparently, this girl had never been in a non-magical town, so Lily had rushed in to show her everything. Petunia took this opportunity to sneak into Lily's room.

The first thing she saw was her trunk. Petunia thought about how much fun it would be to go to boarding school, rather than just day school. It would be just you, your friends, and your teachers. No parents! Wouldn't it be so much fun to stay up late into the night, gossiping in the dark about the latest happenings with your best friends? Or just knowing you could sneak out and run around the school at night if you really wanted. Petunia had always loved the thrill of breaking a rule, but most of the time she was too scared to actually do it. But of course, she wouldn't actually have to break a rule to go wandering the school at night. Lily had told the family by letter once, about the astronomy classes she took at midnight every Wednesday. Wouldn't it be just amazing to stare up at the stars from the tallest tower?

Then, she saw Lily's owl, Cassiopeia. Petunia hated animals, and had never wanted a pet before. But now, staring at the owl, she wanted nothing more than to have an owl perched on the headboard of her bed, like Lily's was.

Petunia looked at Lily's closet door, hanging open, and saw a few sets of those plain black witches robes hanging on hangers. Though she loved the bright colors of her clothes and the sequins on her dresses, she would have had them replaced with plain black fabric.

Then, Petunia saw Lily's gold and scarlet striped Gryffindor scarf hanging out of her trunk. Lily had written a letter about how she had worn it to a Quidditch game and made a big sign to support her house.

And with that, Petunia realized that it was the simple things she wanted. She wanted to be able to write with a quill and ink, like Lily did, rather than in a pen like she did every day at school. She wanted the familiarity of a house she could call her family, or a dormitory's worth of girls she could call her sisters. But most of all, she wanted to call normal, seeing great heaps of food suddenly appear on the table in front of you, getting your mail by a rush of a hundred owls, and seeing a ghost waft through the walls of your classroom. She wanted her normal life to be a doing an essay on the latest potion discoveries, an ancient wizard, and eating magical candy that could make you levitate off the ground. She wanted to proudly support her house, any house would have made her happy, at a Qudditch game, and ride the Hogwarts Express home, feeling like it was a special treat to see her parents.

Just wearing a house scarf would have made her happy. She didn't want much. Just the simple things, but the simple things she could never have.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! <strong>

**~Lulu **


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